Actuating Characteristics of Electrostatic Micro-motors

Electrostatic micro-motors can be divided into three classes: (i) salient type side drive motor, (ii) radial gap type wobble motor, (iii) axial gap type wobble motor. The working mechanism, torque evaluation, fabrication, and operational characteristics of each micro motors are compared. It is proved that axial gap type wobble motor has the bigger generating torque than that of the other type. The gear ratio of wobble motors increases the driving torque at the cost of a decreasing angular speed and decreases the friction because of the rolling motion instead of sliding at the bearing. Techniques for characterizing micro-motors performance are presented.